Something We Share
by hardly-noticeable
Summary: Abby learns that she's not the only one who had a hard childhood. Short but not bad. Please read! Warning: a little angsty but still rather fluffy. So fluffy, it makes me sick to say I wrote it. LOL


Danny sighed heavily as he sat down next to Abby on the old porch swing and looked at her as she discreetly wiped her eyes. It had been rough, trying to protect a family when there was a group of baby raptors running rampant in their home but discovering that the father was abusing his children and wife had been even rougher on Abby. Danny called some old police friends to report the abuse and they would be arriving shortly. Until then, the team had decided to stay and make sure the young woman and her children were going to be all right. Connor was in the yard, entertaining the two children, a boy and a girl, with magic tricks and an old football. The boy loved him and the girl had spent the last thirty minutes on his back, giggling like mad. Abby had begun to cry watching them because she remembered that she had often dreamt of a man like Connor replacing her own abusive father when she was a girl. The girl looked and acted too much like her for Abby's own good. She saw herself and Jack when she looked at the two.

"He's pretty good with them, huh?" Danny asked, nodding to Connor and the children. At that moment, Connor was tossing the girl, Lily, into the air and she was giggling, her brother laughing along as he watched.

"Yeah," Abby choked out, wiping her remaining tears from her cheeks. "Yeah. He's going to be a great father someday."

"Yep. That's what they need, isn't it? A great father." She nodded as a whole new batch of tears sprung into her eyes. "You know, I've dealt with enough abuse cases to know the signs, Abby. How old were you when it started?"

"Ten. My father beat my mother long before that then she started beating me. Soon, they were both beating me and Jack every day," she whispered before bursting into sobs and throwing her arms around him. He rubbed her back soothingly as she cried. No one else noticed them as she cried for ten minutes straight.

Then he said something that shocked her so much it stopped her crying immediately. "I think someone else on this team knows what that's like."

"Who?" she asked, sniffling and wiping the tears off her cheeks as she looked up at him curiously. Danny just nodded his head towards Connor and the children. "Connor? How could he possibly know what that's like?"

"Like I said, Abby, I know the signs. He flinches when someone gets mad at him, even if they are people he trusts, he can't help but try to be a people pleaser, he apologizes way too much for the littlest things no other person would apologize so much for, he has no self-esteem or confidence, and he loves anyone that shows him even the slightest kindness. He's a classic abuse case," Danny said as he stared at Connor throwing the ball to the boy, Alex, and showing the girl how to hold it. "Since when does he play soccer?"

"I don't act like that, Danny. Jack doesn't act like that. How is acting like that a sign when -"

"His abuse probably started earlier than yours. At ten years old, you know what's right and what's wrong and you have an idea of what's normal and what's not. You knew your parents beating you was wrong. But his abuse was probably verbal and physical and it probably started so early he didn't know it wasn't normal until he was much, much older. And no one ever knew with him. Your aunt, she took you out of that situation, right? Connor doesn't have anyone. His mother died when he was four, left him in the care of his stepfather. His stepfather probably began the abuse after Connor's mother died. Connor didn't have anyone to rescue him or tell him it wasn't normal, having your father beat you and call you names. His case was much more severe than yours," Danny cut in. Abby stared at Connor for several minutes more before Danny patted her leg and went back inside.

Connor tossed the ball and Alex ran after it eagerly. He jumped up to catch it but it slipped through his fingers and he fell to the ground, scrapping his hands and knee in the process. Connor's eyes went wide and he ran over to Alex worriedly, scooping him off the ground with just one arm and inspecting him for injuries worriedly. Abby smiled at how fatherly he was, tending to the boy in that way. Alex forgot his injuries and put his arms around Connor as she saw his lips moving with apology after apology.

"It's okay, Mr. Connor. It was an accident." Connor kissed Alex's little palms then his knee and smiled softly at him. Alex laughed and Connor carried him over to the steps of the porch. He set him down and Lily quickly joined them. Then Connor went over to the waterspout and pulled out his handkerchief.

"You okay?" Lily asked her older brother softly.

"Stings a bit but I'll be okay. He kissed it better," Alex joked. He obviously didn't believe that was possible. Connor came back over and cleaned Alex's hands while Lily climbed onto his back then cleaned his scraped knee carefully. "Still stings but thanks."

Connor chuckled and stood up, holding Lily on his back carefully. "I'm sure there's a first aid kit in the truck. I'll have to get the keys from Becker. He's gonna talk my ear off about letting you get hurt."

"I'll get the keys," Abby spoke up. Connor and the children all jumped slightly in surprise. Apparently they hadn't even noticed that she was there. She went inside, retrieved the keys to the truck from Becker, claiming she had a splinter to explain why she needed it, and returned to the yard. Lily was in Connor's lap on the porch swing and Alex was so close, he was almost in Connor's lap as well.

Lily smiled at Abby excitedly and Alex thanked her when she finished tending his hands. Connor put his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands together, and leaned forward to watch the kids as they ran to play again. "They'll be okay, Abs. They will. You and me…We turned out all right. So did Jack." She was surprised he knew about her parents but then again, he could access her personnel file whenever he wanted. "That little boy, he's tough. Told me he protects his sister half the time. He's going to be a good man, with the right care. I think I'll call Tom's foster mom and see if she's still doing counselling. She's great with kids. She helped me a lot."

"Good. They deserve better than what they've got here," she said sadly. He patted her knee gently and she moved closer. "Danny told me that your abuse probably started when you were younger than me. How old were you?"

He looked down at the glove-covered palms of his hands thoughtfully and said, "Four or five, I guess. I know I was always scared someone was going to think my bruises were ugly when I first went to school."

"Why're you looking at your hands?" He looked away from her nervously and she slid even closer then took his hands in hers and carefully pried the gloves from his hands. She nearly cried at what she found. Old scares on his palms from some sort of burn. "He did this to you?"

"Yeah. He worked as a cook in a pub and one day he was drunk and slammed my hands on the grill," he told her, reaching for his gloves. She held them away and took his hands again. She studied the burns and realized they really were aligned like the bars on a grill. She kissed them gently and he leaned his forehead against the back of her head while she was leaned over. She felt a couple tears escape her eyes and he removed one hand from her grasp to hold her with. "They're ugly little buggers, ain't they?"

"No," she whispered, sitting up and cupping his face in her hands. "Nothing about you is ugly. You're a handsome, brilliant, wonderful young man. Probably always were."

"And you're a gorgeous, smart, wonderful young woman. Probably always were too," he said with a grin. She smiled and kissed his nose, to his intense pleasure. "Wicked. This is close to the best day of my life."

"What was the best?" she asked with amusement.

"The day I got my autographed Star Wars action figures," he said with an even wider grin. "You could make it _the_ best day of my life if you gave us a little kiss on the lips, ya know."

"I would but we have an audience and they're scarred enough from seeing a grown man act like a child," she teased. He glanced over and saw Lily and Alex lying on the porch steps, staring at them in anticipation.

"Kiss!" Lily said excitedly. "Like Cinderella and the Prince! True love and fireworks! Kiss!" She jumped up and down and Connor slid on his gloves quickly before quickly scooping her up, taking her a safe distance into the yard, and spinning her around. Abby laughed along with the children.

"True love and fireworks, huh? Not today, all right? Maybe when Abby actually loves me." Connor had her turned upside down and she quirked her head to the side and looked at Abby curiously. "Is the blood rushing to your head yet?"

"No. How come you don't love Connor? He's cute and funny!" Lily said with a giggle. Her long blond hair looked positively ridiculous hanging like that. Connor pulled her up and tickled her happily.

"Cute and funny, huh? Maybe I should kiss you, eh?" Lily giggled and he blew a raspberry on her stomach with a laugh. "Alex, me boy, let's toss the ball around, yeah? Here ya go, Abby. Take this little doll, would ya?"

Abby got up and Connor carried Lily to her, once again holding her upside down. She took her into her arms like a baby and sat down on the swing to rock her gently. Lily smiled and cuddled up to her with a yawn. Abby nearly laughed at how funny it was that Connor had more energy than the little girl. Alex and Connor tossed the soccer ball to one another and Lily went to sleep in her arms. As she rocked Lily on the swing, she couldn't help but daydream of this tiny house being a big house like the one Cutter had sent them to when he noticed the pattern for anomalies and Connor playing with a little boy with messy brown hair, blue eyes, and his dad's smile, Rex, and their big Golden Retriever. And Lily transformed into a little girl with her blond hair, Connor's brown eyes, and her love for lizards, sitting on the porch with Sid and Nancy lying next to her, begging for attention. And the child in her arms became a baby boy that was just like his father so far and nothing like her, though Connor would claim he had her smile. It wasn't until Connor jogged up the porch steps and looked at her worriedly that she snapped out of it and realized, she wasn't his wife and she didn't have three children, a dog, and three lizards. She was just Abby Maitland with three lizards and him as a flatmate.

"What's the matter, Abs?" he asked worriedly. She shook her head and he took Lily from her gently. "We'll talk after I tuck her in." She got up to help and Alex hurried after them. They tucked Lily into her bed in the room she shared with Alex and Alex climbed into the bunk below hers. "Tired, bud?"

"Yeah. You'll be here when we get up?" Connor nodded and removed Lily's shoes, socks, and jacket while Abby did the same for Alex. Then they tucked Alex in and kissed his forehead goodnight before doing the same for Lily and leaving. Alex was asleep before the light was even turned off. Connor and Abby joined the other in the living room and discovered the father tied to a chair in the corner with Becker behind him as a guard. His wife was serving tea and biscuits with shaking hands. Sarah quickly moved to help.

Connor took Abby out into the yard when the father glared at her and she looked ready to give him a taste of his own medicine only tenfold and they began to walk down the dirt path to the old barn where the family kept their horses. Once there, they sat on the metal fence around where the horses grazed and he looked at her worriedly. "What were you thinking about back there?"

"Being married to a good man. Having three little babies, a dog, and the lizards. A big house with room to play that's close to the city but far enough so the lizards could be outside without worries," she admitted with a thoughtful smile. "It sounds wonderfully, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. But if we get a divorce, I want visitation rights to Sid and Nancy," he said half-jokingly. She laughed slightly and he looked at her with a smile, trying to hide how her fantasy hurt him. The idea of Abby being married to some other man, creating babies with that man, and sharing the secret about her pets with that man twisted his heart as if it had already happened. "No, I'm serious. My kids too here."

"Well, technically, only Sid is yours. Nancy's a Mama's girl," she joked. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Con, they're yours. I wouldn't take 'em from you. So, figure out who my good man would be if I still had them. Them and a big Golden Retriever."

"Hey, a Golden Retriever is my...My favourite...Abby, would _I_ be your good man?" he asked nervously. She slid off the gate with a smile and walked over to a white mare with tiny black spots all over her. She winked at Connor and started to stroke the horse's nose gently. Connor walked to her, slid his arms around her waist, and kissed her neck gently. "Would I?"

Abby sighed contently and leaned back against him. "Yes," she said, to Connor's pleasure. He held her even tighter and laid loving kisses on her neck. "Mm. I love you."

"I love you more," he said with a grin. He turned her around and cupped her face. Then he gently brushed his lips against hers and pulled back with a look that plainly asked if it was okay to do so. She nodded and he moved back for another little kiss that she quickly turned into a deep, passionate kiss. Connor explored her mouth with his tongue and tasted her lips with a moan of pleasure. She was better than he had imagined and she thought the same of him. In her fantasies, she always had to be the one pushing Connor to relax and give her more but the moment she showed she was alright with more than just a little kiss, he began to show her with his mouth just how much he loved her. Not that it was a bad thing, at all. He was a fantastic kisser.

The only thing that broke them apart was when one of the horses bumped her nose against Connor's back, causing him to stumble and nearly send them onto the ground. "Sorry," he muttered with a nervous laugh. "I think the horse wants attention."

"No. Really?" she asked with a laugh. "Do you know how to ride?"

"Yeah. Tom's family used to go camping at this place where you could rent horses for a trail ride and they used to take me along. One time, my horse got spooked and ran off with me. It took me two hours to find me way back to camp. My arse hurt like hell." She laughed and returned to petting the mare gently. "Do you?"

"Nope. The closest I've gotten to riding a horse was on a pony ride at the carnival. Teach me?" she asked with a smile. He eagerly nodded and spent the better part of an hour playing around with Abby and showing her how to control the horse while she rode her. "You know, maybe we could add having horses to my fantasy."

"Sounds good to me," he said with a grin.

**FINISHED! OKAY. STUPID LITTLE FIC, I KNOW. BUT IT WASN'T AS HORRIBLE AS IT COULD BE. THE NEW SEASON OF PRIMEVAL IS SUPPOSED TO PREMIERE IN EITHER DECEMBER OR EARLY 2011 AND I AM DYING TO SEE IT! THEN AGAIN, ISN'T EVERYONE? =)**


End file.
